


Counting the Scars You Made

by NarryEm



Series: Broken Like a Promise verse [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heartbreak, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-01
Updated: 2014-02-01
Packaged: 2018-01-10 07:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1156604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NarryEm/pseuds/NarryEm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall is going to stay, even when Harry is falling apart in his arms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Counting the Scars You Made

**Author's Note:**

> Title from _Cold As You_ by Taylor Swift.
> 
> This got a bit domestic haha.

Next morning, Harry wakes thinking that last night was a hoax.

But there is a pair of arms wrapped tightly around his waist and gentle puffs of air tickling the back of his neck. And as if he knows that Harry is awake, the hands traipse up towards his heart. Then they stay there, feeling the quickening _thump_ s of Harry's heart. There is a loud inhale and a shivery exhale, as if he is savouring the way Harry smells after an exhaustive night, both physically and emotionally.

"Mornin'," Niall whispers, lips pressed to his neck. They move a little as he kisses the tender area, slow and lazy like Harry remembers all too well.

"Erm, morning," Harry replies, still confused as to what is happening. Is he still dreaming or was last night a reality?

Because he can't handle another departure. Not when he was never whole to begin with.

So, of course, what he does is perfectly logical: he pushes Niall of the bed and clutches the covers up to his neck.

"Ow, what was that for?" Niall complains, slowly getting up.

"You were never supposed to come back, Harry mumbles, fighting back the tears. "I can't--I can't do this again."

Niall climbs up the bed, kneeling close to the edge of the bed but too near Harry. "Harry, I ain't leavin' ya again. Never again if it means that you'll forgive me. I've always loved you and always will."

"You said you loved me before," Harry counters. "Yet you still left me."

"'Cause I was young and stupid and scared. Not scared anymore. not afraid of love. You've always been the best part of me and made me strong. Lemme be _your_ strength this time."

Harry shakes his head. "You'll just leave me the next time I break down. Trust me, it'll be ugly."

Niall reaches out and takes Harry's. He brings it up to his lips and kisses each tip, as if soothing him. "I promise with my life, Harry. You'll be seeing me 'round for a very long time."

 

-

 

The minute hand ticks towards the top again and Niall wishes that he could stop it from making the annoying sounds. He has been trying to kip for a bit like Harry has been but the damn thing won't let him. Sighing, he resumes stroking Harry's hair, tangling his fingers in the loose curls and massaging his scalp a bit.

That's when he hears a noise. It's like a mix of whimper and a sob and it breaks Niall's heart. Harry has started to move about in his sleep and he is shaking violently, like he is in the midst of a nightmare.

"Harry," he tries, "love, wake up for me."

"No, please don't," Harry whimpers, voice so vulnerable and a tear streams down his cheek. Niall hurries to brush it away, loathing himself for not being able to help his love in any way. He keeps on stroking Harry's hair, and occasionally wiping off the cold sweat from his forehead.

"No!" Harry cries out and thrashes his arms, managing to sock Niall in the jaw. Niall is real worried now. This can't be normal, having a dream this vivid.

Is this what Harry's been going through the past year?

If it is, Niall won't be able to forgive himself, much less try to have Harry forgive him.

So he does the only thing he can think of to soothe Harry, he kisses him on the lips.

If this were a movie, Harry's eyes would open magically and he would kiss him back. But this isn't a chick flick or a fairy tale; this is Niall's life and he has ruined Harry's in his fear. He wants to help Harry and he meant it when he said that he was going to stay.

He can't bear the thought of leaving Harry again. Not when his departure has left him in shambles.

 

Minutes pass; it could have been hours for all Niall knows. He alternates between crooning and pleading for Harry to wake up and kissing him tenderly to see if he'll wake up. Harry is hurting, that much is obvious. Niall can see Harry flinching or curling into himself as if someone were physically hurting him when all Niall is doing is cradling the taller boy in his arms.

Finally, Harry opens his eyes, brimming with tears and blood-shot. He looks as though he'd been dragged through hell and back.

"You're here," he sniffles, voice so quiet Niall almost couldn't hear a word. "You stayed."

"Told ya I would," Niall replies, holding back his own tears. "Never gonna leave your sight again."

"Dreamt you were gone. And I kept running after you but you were too fast," Harry mumbles into Niall's chest, nuzzling his head into the soft skin spanning over Niall's chest.

"Rubbish," Niall comments fondly. "You'll have to physically remove me from your side to get rid of me."

Harry looks up, eyes glistening with even more tears. "Promise?"

"On me life."

 

-

 

They have to go back out to the real world eventually. The primary reason for that is to get food. Harry isn't the best at remembering to go grocery shopping and, well, he only had enough food to last two days when sharing a house with Niall.

"If we're gonna live together again," Harry huffs, grabbing his car keys. "You're gonna pay most of the grocery bill. Can't believe that you've still got that insane metabolism of yours."

Niall smirks. He kisses away the tiny frown that has appeared on his face. "Aye, aye, cap'n. Can we do lunch first? Starvin'."

Harry rolls his eyes. "We had a brunch an hour ago."

"Your point?" Niall deadpans. Harry only shakes his head fondly.

They go to a small cafe that over looks the Hyde Park. The waitress recognises them so they give her autographs to score the best seats in the place. Harry stares out the window, lost in his thoughts.

He hadn't expected for Niall to stick to his promise. Not after the little episode. He's seen the bruise on Niall's jaw, and he's not stupid. Niall has been trying to cover it up with a stubble but it's not working so well since it takes Niall about a week to grow a five o' clock shadow. He tried apologising but Niall keeps brushing it off as nothing, when it is, in fact, something.

It doesn't take long for their meals to be served. (Although you can hardly call a buttered bagel a meal, Harry supposes.) Niall keeps talking about the little projects he is working and the charity that he has been trying to set up for a while now.

"Gonna help with poverty in Latin America," he explains between mouthfuls of his lunch. "When we were touring there, I was shocked to see how some people live. Made me think twice about thinkin' that what we have isn't somethin' t' be cherished. We're lucky to have been born here, yeah?"

Harry nods, too distracted by the way Niall's soft pink lips move as he talks and eats. Yeah, he sounds like he is a creep or some pervert but knowing exactly what those lips can do is . . . distracting.

"Earth to Hazza?" Niall asks, waving his hands in front of Harry's eyes. "Ya spacin' out on me?"

Harry can't help it; he lunges forward and presses his mouth to Niall's, glad that Niall's just swallowed. Despite the initial shock, Niall soon recovers and kisses him back just as enthusiastically.

"Mm, not listenin' to me, were ya?" he comments cheekily as their lips part. "Busy thinkin' o' somethin' else?"

"Maybe," Harry answers, twirling the straw in his glass of water between his fingers. "Quite possibly, yeah."

"Okay," Niall acquiesces.

The rest of it is quite uneventful. The server comes by every other minute to flirt with them outrageously and Niall almost guffaws when he sees that she's slipped in her number in their bill. He pays regardless of Harry's loud protests and promptly leaves the piece of paper with the girl's number on the table.

"Still think it's funny when they try to get with us," Niall chuckles as he holds the door open for Harry. "Like, we're not even popstars anymore. Can't get 'em VIP passes or free shite."

"We used to be their idols, if you can recall," Harry chides. "Girls all around the world used to have shrines and weird things like that for us. 1DDay happened only because they were passionate about us."

Niall nods, now holding the car door open for Harry. "It's my car,' Harry says.

"So I can't drive it?" Niall counters, eyes sparkling. "I know it's your precious little Audi but I ain't Louis. I won't crash her, mate."

Harry sighs, all exaggerated. "Fine. One tiny scratch and you're sleeping on the couch, mister."

Tesco's is quite deserted as it is only Tuesday well after lunch time. They buy some actual food as well as some ready-to-eat ones they you only need to throw into the microwave. Harry scrunches up his face in disgust but Niall only shrugs. ("Nothin' wrong with a quick fix, mate. Besides, it's only cheese and macaroni."

The checkout queue is only five minutes and the cashier looks bored halfway to death. Harry wonders if that could have been him if he had not auditioned for The X-Factor.)

 

Back at Harry's house, they start unpacking the groceries. Niall has a tendency to shove them wherever he sees fit and sorely tries Harry's patience as he can try a bit pedantic on this kind of thing.

"Niall," he complains, "you do not put Nutella in the fridge."

'Okay, fine, sorry." Niall puts his hands in the air in a sign of surrender. "Only trying to help so don't bite my head off."

Harry glares at him. "You tried to put the cucumbers in the fruits section. You do never ever ever put fruits and vegetables in the same compartment because they need to be stored at different temperatures."

"Fine," Niall huffs. He heads towards the living room. "You organise everything proper whilst I watch telly then. Think the Man U are playing Chelsea."

Harry breaks off the stare. As much as he would love to bicker with Niall, the eggs and the whipped cream should have been put in the fridge about ten minutes ago.

The game is halfway through the first hour and Harry is done. He sinks down onto the sofa next to Niall and instantly, Niall slings an arm around his shoulder. Harry smiles as he sinks down lower until his head is in Niall's lap.

"We should bake," he blurts out. He did pick up some flour and chocolate chips. And he's sure that there are some mushy bananas somewhere in his kitchen.

"Oh?" Niall asks, cocking an eyebrow. Harry feels his cheeks heat up.

"Not _that_ you twat," he shoves at Niall's shoulder playfully. "Make a banana loaf or something. And make cookies. Been a while since I baked and my mum's just sent me some recipes to try last week."

"Alri'," Niall agrees. "Gotta warn you, I'm not the best so you'll have to teach me."

 

Half an hour later, they are in the kitchen mixing the cookie batter with the telly volume turned up high. Chelsea is winning by one point and apparently, the crowd isn't so happy.

"No, Niall," Harry instructs. "Don't, like, actually do circular motions. You have to, ehm, dig into the middle of the bowl a bit and get the sides too."

Niall whines, "I don't bloody know. Thought all you had to do was mix this shit."

Harry rolls his eyes. "There's techniques."

Niall rolls his eyes right back. "A cookie dough is a fuckin' cookie dough. And what about that banana loaf thing? Is it done yet?"

The younger man sighs. "I literally just put it in the oven. Gonna take at least ten minutes for it to rise and then another five to ten minutes from there."

Niall mimicks Harry's sigh, going back to mixing the batter.

"Here," Harry reaches around Niall's arms and places his hands atop Niall's. " _This_ is how you whisk properly."

Niall cranes his neck, planting a kiss on Harry's cheek. "Shoulda done this the moment we started. This is more fun." He wiggles his arse against Harry, cackling when Harry moans.

"Careful," he warns, somehow managing to keep whisking. 'Don't want to make a mess all over the place."

"Fun police," Niall pouts, turning back around but not before pecking Harry on the lips.

By the time they put the tray in the oven as well, Harry has had enough. Niall's been teasing him with quick little kisses stolen here and there, never quite sticking long enough for Harry to react to it. So the moment they set the timer, Harry pushes Niall up against the kitchen island and lifts him up.

"Impatient, are we?" Niall muses, blue eyes piercing into his.

"Nah, just doing what we set out to do."

He crushes their lips together, not leaving any room for argument. Niall's lips are forceful and demaning against his and Harry kisses him back the same way. Soon, their shirts are on the floor and their trousers are halfway undone.

And if their cookies come out a little burnt, well they don't care.


End file.
